Beginners Workshop (Fall 2017-18)

Starting on September 22nd and going until December 8th, Hart House Chess Club ran a 12-session workshop for beginner players who wanted to improve their game! The lessons were taught by our Varsity player Panayoti Tsialas and attracted a big number of passionate students!

The lessons examined the following topics:

I. Tactics:

Knight Forks

Tactical Rook Endgames (skewers + mating nets)

Back rank mates

The mate on g7 (g2) – Pattern Recognition: a) King has castled short, b) The -g- pawn has been pushed, c) The fianchetto bishop has been traded off or is exiled on the other side of the board, d) Queen invasion and collaboration with Pawn or Bishop (less frequently with Knight)

Creating Mating Nets: Mates in two with a non-checking first move

II. Opening Theory

An early Queen sortie and how to punish it

Pushing the -f- pawn and the weakness of the f7 (f2) square

Neglecting piece development in the opening

Moving the same piece twice in the opening

Starting out 1. e4 e5 – The Italian set-up and some basic ideas and common mistakes for White and Black

III. Middlegame Strategy

Wilhelm Steinitz and the Scientific Method in Chess: Material, Time, Space and the Theory of Balance

The attack against the enemy’s castled king and its proper preparation. Three conditions for a successful attack: a) Superiority or at least control of the centre, b) Have more attacking pieces on your opponent’s king that he has defenders, c) There must be a weakness on the opponent’s camp (e.g. one of the -f-, -g-, -h- pawns has been pushed)

Attacking plans against the king who has not castled: a) Attack down the -e- file, b) Attack via -f7- square, c) Preventing castling

Refuting a premature king attack: breaking the centre open

The “fishbone”: Splitting in two your opponent’s army by thrusting a pawn into his camp

IV. Endgame Theory:

Calculation v. Schematic Thinking: The rule of the square

The peculiar case of the -h- passed pawn

V. Other Topics:

Chess Analysis – A Simulation Exercise: Avoiding mistakes by re-constructing a player’s decision-making process in real-tournament circumstances (analyzing games and positions from the Pan-Am Qualifier)

The tripartite classification of openings (open, semi-open, closed) and how to build your opening repertoire

At the end of this long course, in lieu of a goodbye gift, Panayoti invited all his students to a simultaneous chess exhibition, in which they got to challenge him on the board, demonstrating their newly acquired knowledge! Attendees did not miss the chance to taste Panayoti’s homemade Greek-salad with plenty of feta and delicious Kalamata olives from his hometown!

At the end of the 4-hour long simultaneous exhibition, Panayoti and his students analyzed each of the games for an additional, super-filling 5-hour post-mortem at the Reading Room!